On episode #211 of the science show This Week in Virology, the TWiV four discuss an mRNA-based influenza vaccine, and a phage tubulin that forms a filamentous array in the host cell that is needed for positioning viral DNA. You can find TWiV #211 at www.microbe.tv/twiv.
Although Avery, MacLeod, and McCarty showed in 1944 that nucleic acid was both necessary and sufficient for the transfer of bacterial genetic traits, protein was still suspected to be a critical component of viral heredity. Alfred Hershey and Martha Chase showed that this hypothesis was incorrect with a simple experiment involving the use of a …
From a food blender to real-time fluorescent imaging Read More »
Some viruses that infect bacteria (bacteriophages) deliver their DNA into the host cell with an amazing injection machine. The tailed bacteriophages (such as T4, illustrated) store their DNA in a capsid attached to a long tail tube that is surrounded by a sheath. At the bottom of the tube is a baseplate with a spike …
Norton Zinder made two important discoveries in the field of virology. While a Ph.D. student with Joshua Lederberg at the University of Wisconsin-Madison he found that viruses of bacteria (bacteriophages) could move genes from one host to another, a process called transduction. Later in his own laboratory at The Rockefeller University he isolated the first …
Robert A. Weisberg was a Scientist Emeritus at NCI until the time of his death on 1 September 2011. Previously he was Chief of Microbial Genetics at NICHHD, a position he retired from in 2008. He was a pioneer in the study of the bacteriophage lambda. His research lead to seminal contributions about how bacteriophage lambda …
Hosts: Alan Dove and Rich Condit Alan and Rich tackle the discovery of bacteriophages, and treating influenza by calming the cytokine storm. [powerpress url=”http://traffic.libsyn.com/twiv/TWiV145.mp3″] Click the arrow above to play, or right-click to download TWiV 145 (63 MB .mp3, 87 minutes). Subscribe to TWiV (free) in iTunes , at the Zune Marketplace, by the RSS feed, by …
